Section 17. Whoever is a principal organizer or participant in the crime of hazing, as defined herein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than three thousand dollars or by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment.
The term ''hazing'' as used in this section and in sections eighteen and nineteen, shall mean any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which wilfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug or other substance, or any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary, consent shall not be available as a defense to any prosecution under this action.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
6
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1998–2024 · leading case:
Perkins v. Commonwealth, 752 N.E.2d 761 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001).
Perkins v. Commonwealth, 752 N.E.2d 761 (Mass. App. Ct. 2001).
· cites it 4× “She contends that the defendant agencies were negligent in providing her with medical care and, citing G. L. c. 269, § 17, see note 7, infra, that the defendants, by allowing her to be hazed by Academy personnel, constructively discharged her in violation of public policy.”
Commonwealth v. Boucher, 780 N.E.2d 47 (Mass. 2002).
“that he is likely to act or fail to act as a result of kinship, rank, position or undue influence of any party or person” [emphasis added]); G. L. c. 269, § 17 (defining criminal hazing to include “any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to…”
Krueger v. Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, Inc., 13 Mass. L. Rptr. 665 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2001).
“On September 14, 1998, a Grand Jury returned two indictments against the FIJI House, one for hazing in violation of G.L.c. 269, §17, and the other for violation of G.”
Commonwealth v. Taron T., 104 Mass. App. Ct. 219 (Mass. App. Ct. 2024).
· cites it 2× “See G. L. c. 269, § 17. 6 [rubbed] all over [his] testicles and [his] behind.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.